Page 90 of A Hurt So Good

“You want to do this in front of her?” he asks, nodding toward Arya.

“Wait a fucking minute! It’s about me, so why can’t I hear this?” she snaps. There’s our little hellion.

“You can,” I remind her. The others don’t say anything as she comes to stand next to me.

“We don’t know who the outside source is that’s sending the messages just yet. I have people working on that, but what we do know is it’s coming from inside a prison.”

“A prison? What the fuck?” Harlon asks more to himself. Arya shakes her head, stepping away from me as if she knows something we don’t.

“What? What is it?” I ask her. She narrows her eyes and keeps moving further and further away from all of us. I don’t know what she’s thinking or what is happening right now.

“Arya?” Denz calls out to her. She even pushes Harlon away when he steps closer to her.

“This can’t be happening,” she mumbles.

“Arya, I’m so sorry,” Dad says.

“What the hell is going on?” I roar this time. Arya stays away from us, but our dad turns to face us all.

“Her dad is in this prison.”

“What? We thought he was dead.”

“He’s apparently calling the shots,” Dad says. No. Fuck that shit.

“How can he do that?” Harlon snaps.

“It’s simple, really. You can get anything in prison just like you can outside,” Dad explains. My heart starts hammering in my chest as I think about that. Why now? Why is he doing this now?

I turn to Arya, and she falls to her knees. I rush over and grab her in my arms, cradling her to my chest.

“I won’t fucking let them hurt you. I’ll fucking kill every single one of them,” I growl as she looks up at me.

“You can’t touch him. He’s in prison.”

“You don’t know shit, little bird. You don’t know me as well as I thought you did,” I respond. She doesn’t say anything because she doesn’t know what the fuck is going through my mind right now. She has no fucking clue how dark it just got inside of me.

“He’s going to do it this time, War. He’s going to have someone kill me.” I roar so loudly that my dad walks over and grabs Arya out of my arms, knowing I’m going to snap at any moment. And he wouldn’t be wrong. I can feel myself coming unhinged.

“I’m going to talk to my lawyer and see what can be done as far as what’s going on on the inside,” Dad declares. There’s nothing that can be done. Not from out here, there isn’t.

The amount of rage I can feel inside of me is something I’ve never felt before. I can feel it vibrating in me, shaking my fucking core.

Dad turns and walks back up the stairs as Harlon wraps his arm around Arya and walks her over to the couch. Denz slaps a hand on my shoulder, no doubt trying to calm me, but that does little good.

Knowing I can’t do shit about it right now is triggering me further. That’s when Denz’s phone rings. He pulls it out and answers it before he’s on his feet.

“We have to go,” he announces as me and Harlon stand.

“What’s happening?” Har asks.

“Someone has been creeping around mom’s house. Sasha is scared,” he tells us. Oh, fuck that. No fucking way is someone going to mess with our little sister.

“I’m coming too,” Arya announces. Denz looks over and shakes his head.

“We don’t know who it is.”

“I don’t give a shit, Denz, I want to be there for Sasha.” Denz takes a deep breath and nods his head, and we head upstairs.Taking Arya out with us is dangerous, considering we don’t know who the hell is helping her dad, but we already know she isn’t going to stay here even if we leave her ass.

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